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Magic Mountain – What Happens at Davos? (newyorker.com)
17 points by kurinikku 9 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 12 comments



Am I the only one that feels like the WEF gives off SPECTRE from James Bond vibes?

It's very creepy how a large group of rich and powerful elites get together to decide how they're going to run the world despite not being elected officials and pushing authoritarian solutions to the world's problems.

They have literally stated that they want us to "own nothing and be happy" because these entitled pricks feel that they are the only ones that deserve to own anything. They would have us renting everything for the rest of our lives and eating bugs, while they enjoy steak dinners in one of their 12 houses with a garage full of Lamborghinis.

https://www.newsweek.com/global-elites-no-money-no-problems-...


They're not deciding anything there, the group is way too large for that. It's a networking event, people are getting to know other people.

I mean, I find the existence of a class of incredibly super rich people just evil, but not because of Davos.


The WEF puts a lot of work into creating outcomes that track with its philosophies; it is playing the long game and strategic decisions -are- being made at get-togethers like Davos. Potential Young Global Leaders are vetted and recruited, among other things.

Klaus Schwab, 2007: “What we are really proud of now, is the young generation. Like Prime Minister Trudeau, the President of Argentina, and so on. So we penetrate the cabinets. So yesterday, I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know that half of this cabinet, or even more than half of this cabinet, are actually Young Global Leaders of the world.”

From the WEF Young Global Leaders website: "Our growing membership of more than 1,400 members and alumni... Aligned with the World Economic Forum’s mission, we seek to drive public-private co-operation in the global public interest."

I'd like to know exactly what Klaus and the WEF leadership consider to be "global public interest".

I've listened to several speeches from both him and his advisor Yuval Harari and at first glance Klaus's preference seems like some version of tightly controlled, top-down corporatism.

I found a number of statements made by Harari to be particularly disturbing, including one he made in a session (paraphrased here) that they don't need most of us (which begs the question who the "public" is in "global public interest"). If you hold that personal opinion, fine, but when you're closely allied with an organization whose stated intention is to reshape how the world works, that places the "opinion" into a different context, regardless of whether it could be acted upon or not. There's more from him about genetic superiority, blah blah... In my opinion, he's a scary guy.


I've been many times. It's far less nefarious than it seems.

Ever been to a corporate Christmas party? It's basically that with a lot more money.

There are some very interesting talks, but its mostly pretty vanilla. There are also some very, very interesting people, especially outside the gates of the main congress center.

But most of it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like; boring old people and their staff jockeying for status and bragging rights of who met with who, who got into what event, etc.

No one is in charge, there are no adults in the room and there are no sinister plots. Nothing really gets done or gets decided, other than an annual update of the ultra rich leaderboard, which is even scarier than the alternative if you think about it.


> Magic Mountain – What Happens at Davos?

A bunch of rich fartknockers having fun with prostitutes, and in the spare time discussing how to bribe world governments. /s


Why the sarcasm, isn't that exactly what they do?


The press paints them almost as saints.


The press is part of the establishment. They’re in on the agenda.


Exactly what you imagine, and then a bit more.


> This was serendipitous, as so many conversations in Davos turn out to be, because, at the urging of many, I was supposed to be angling for an invitation to the McKinsey party, at the Belvedere Hotel.

the powerful like to hold parties, talk, and listen to themselves and others of their liking also talk.

a journalist gets to write a little about it. lest the rest start to wonder too much and come to conclusions.

pay no attention to your betters. unless they want you to.


You can actually see videos of many sessions at Davos and judge by yourself


(2012)




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